Golden State enters the biggest series of the year with more questions than answers.

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Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) reacts after a call while playing the Houston Rockets during the fourth quarter of their NBA game at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019. The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors in overtime 135-134. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

The Warriors and Rockets, once again. Just as we all predicted. Just as it was always supposed to be.

And while this clash of the titans is only a second-round showdown this time, heading into Game 1 Sunday afternoon, it still feels as if everything is on the line in this series.

After failing to close the deal after going up 3-2 in last year’s Western Conference Finals, the Rockets doubled down on what made them great. They come into this series unified. They know who they are, what they can (and, of equal importance, what they cannot) do, and they like their chances to do it. Even more importantly, they come in healthy.

Make no mistake about it, these Rockets can absolutely beat the Warriors, straight-up, in a seven-game series. They won’t need the same kind of help the Warriors gave the Clippers in the first round.

And for Warriors? Well, the only thing on the line in this series is their dynasty.

And truth be told, they enter this series carrying as many questions as they have answers.

Here are those questions:

1. Are they healthy enough?

(Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

The Warriors finished their six-game first-round series in Los Angeles on Friday night, leaving them a day and a half before Game 1 tipped off.

In that time, the Warriors needed to return to the Bay, put a gameplan for the Rockets in place, and get healthy.

We might live in the epicenter of biotech, but there is simply no way that latter option happened.

The Warriors enter Game 1 with not insignificant injuries to Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green — injuries that can absolutely tip tight series in the favor of Golden State’s opponent.

But save the asterisks — the Warriors, by messing around and letting their series with the Clippers go six games (it should have been four or five), have only themselves to blame for their current predicament. If the Warriors do lose to Houston, injuries didn’t sabotage them, they sabotaged themselves — injures were the karmic byproduct of Golden State’s on-court arrogance.

Curry, as you probably could have predicted, has an ankle injury — the byproduct of a quick twist in the first half of Game 6. It’s his third tweak of an ankle in the last three weeks, but Curry Friday said that he’ll play in Game 1. That stands to reason, as Curry played without any noticeable limitation in the second half of Game 6, but then again, ankle injuries are defined by the day after. Curry is listed as questionable for Game 1.

Thompson twisted his ankle in Game 6 as well and is, reportedly, not looking too good for Game 1 Sunday. Thompson only had one outstanding offensive game in the series against the Clippers, but he amid a sterling defensive run. Not having him 100 percent seriously affects the offense, but it challenges the Warriors’ team defense more. This is a top-heavy team and Thompson carries a heavy load on both ends of the court.

Green has been carrying a right wrist injury for weeks and aggravated it in Game 3 of the first round. The injury won’t keep him off the court — he’s the ultimate gamer, after all — but it likely has something to do with his recent 0-for-11 stretch from beyond the 3-point arc. There’s little doubt the Rockets — who have taken their defense to a new level in recent weeks — will scheme around that slump.

If all three can tough it out for Games 1 and 2, they will get a big three-day break before Game 3 in Houston. But by that point, significant damage — both in the injuries and in the series — could be done.

The Warriors are in the danger zone, and, again, they have no one to blame for that positioning but themselves.

2. Are they inspired?

Kevin Durant reacts to his dunk towards the Warriors bench during Game 5 of their first round series at Oracle Arena (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

The Warriors’ success and failures this season have been predicated by effort level.

When the Warriors decide they want to fully engage in a contest, they have the kind of top-end talent that’s near impossible to beat.

But in the 88 games preceding Sunday’s Game 1, how many times have we seen that intensity, that focus? The number might still be in single digits.

The Warriors’ performances in Games 3 and 6 of the first round should serve as encouragement — they bounced back from unacceptable losses with focused defense and kinetic offense. We know they still have that unmatchable gear.

But against these Rockets, they cannot have a single let-down game, much less two. Unlike the Clippers, Houston is one of the elite teams in the NBA that can beat the Warriors when Golden State is engaged. Imagine what they’d do to an unfocused team. If the Warriors want to hand Houston a game, or two, they’ll effectively be handing them the series.

Maybe the Warriors have been waiting all year to show us their best. Perhaps the clear and present danger of their rivals will bring out the Warriors’ best for the next few weeks.

But it’s been months since the Warriors have gone on a stretch of sustained focus — five, six, seven games in a row. There’s every reason to question if this weary team still has it in them.

3. Can they be disciplined?

(Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

The Clippers are not in the same class as the Rockets — not even close — and yet they gave the Warriors fits in their first-round series.

Yes, so much of that was self-sabotage for the Dubs, but LA took the fight to Golden State, attacking them at their weak points both tactically and mentally, drawing fouls and ire along the way.

Houston had to love watching that tape.

The Rockets — led by James Harden and Chris Paul — are masters of the dark arts. As Curry put it Friday, their “gamesmanship is at a high level”. They’re looking to draw fouls, to muck the game up — aesthetics be damned.

Curry — if he plays — is going to be target No. 1 for Houston. Foul trouble defined his Games 2 through 4 in the first round — his inability to not reach putting him on the bench, knocking him out of rhythm, and messing up the Warriors’ rotations. Luckily, Kevin Durant was so transcendent, it didn’t bury the Dubs. It will against Houston.

The Rockets might have a reputation as a pick-and-roll team, but this year, they’ve really become an isolation squad, with Harden singling out one player on more than half of his team’s half-court possessions.

It’s rote, it’s ruthless, it works. The Warriors know exactly what’s coming and where it’s going — they know that the Rockets won’t change it, either — and they cannot fall prey.

And if they do, they cannot lose their cool, either.

The big number in this series is 24. Over the last three seasons, when the Rockets have attempted 24 or more free throws in a game against the Warriors, they are 8-1. But when they have 23 or fewer free-throw attempts per game, they’re 1-8.

4. Are they deep enough?

(Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

The loss of DeMarcus Cousins, who tore his quad in Game 2 of the first round, could loom large in this series. Cousins had his liabilities, for sure, but he was an additional scorer who had solid games against the Rockets in the regular season.

Without Cousins and finally deciding to engage in the fight that was the series with the Clippers, the Warriors went to a seven-man-plus rotation in the latter stage of the first round. Expect that to remain the same for the Houston series — it can’t get any shorter and Kerr has shown no inclination to go longer.

While Kevon Looney has thrived against Houston in the past, a big factor in his series will be if Andrew Bogut can stay on the court.

Bogut is the Warriors’ only true center — he needs to be passable. The Warriors’ rotation hinges on it.

Looney’s minutes have a saturation point. Green is already carrying plenty of wear-and-tear and center minutes are time and a half for him.

The Aussie’s rim protection could prove huge against Harden’s isolation, and his passing out of the high post could serve as a hub for the offense, but Bogut must be smart and nimble from the opening tip or the Warriors will find themselves in trouble, lest he end up lost and as a liability, like Utah’s Rudy Gobert in Games 1 and 2 of the Rockets’ first-round series.

Where Bogut’s minutes will really loom large is with the second unit. The Warriors have often treaded water with the start of the second and fourth quarter units, but they’ll drown if they do that against Houston.

Kerr is likely to have to reshuffle his rotations to stagger Durant and Curry for this series, as the Rockets do with Harden and the pick-and-roll maestro Chris Paul, to keep an elite scorer on the court at all times. (This is another spot where fouls become critical.)

The Warriors get a ton of credit for their top-end talent, as well they should, and the playoffs are all about those top-end guys, but in this series, where every minute will matter and a top-heavy roster is susceptible to let-downs, depth is going to be huge.

With injuries and possible tactical casualties, will Kerr go to his deep bench, tapping Jordan Bell or Jonas Jerebko for minutes? He doesn’t want to, but he might not have a choice before this series is over.

Prediction: Warriors in 7

I don’t feel good about this. Not one bit. Every bone in my body tells me to pick against the Warriors in this series — that this team won’t get out of its own way often enough to beat a clicking Houston squad. But the truth remains that when the Warriors play their best game, they are much better than the Rockets, and I can’t rule out the possibility that Golden State has been sandbagging us all along. I’ll err on the side of the champions — but my money might tell a different story, you can get the Rockets to win the series at +210.